99: Gretzky: His Game, His Story

“I always wanted to play in Russia,” Gretzky said, “and I wish I could have done it twenty years ago. But for our age, I think the level of play was pretty good and everyone was trying, so that made it fun.”

To the average viewer, the Olympics are a fascinating sporting spectacle. But to anyone involved in them, they are a mystifying, complex maze of politics, kickbacks, under-the-table deals, intrigue and deceit. There is never a straight line from A to B in the Olympics. The path is always winding and circuitous—and it usually leads to a back door.

That’s usually the Canadian way. They go into these competitions expecting gold. Once that possibility ends, the intensity level drops.